Sights

The castle, on a hill above the old town, dominates the city of Bratislava. It features in the first written reference to the city, which appears in the Annals of Salzburg of 907, in association with a battle between Bavarians and Hungarians. The castle hill was populated as early as the late Stone Age; its first known inhabitants were the Celts, who founded a fortified settlement here called ‘Oppidum’.

Devín Castle, a national cultural monument, is located at the foot of a cliff above the confluence of the Danube and Morava Rivers. This strategically important site has been settled since the late Stone Age by a succession of groups, from the Celts to the Romans, the Goths to the Lombards, and many more.

The history of the Old Town Hall dates back to the beginnings of the mediaeval town in the 13th century. It was then that the original Romanesque house of Mayor Jakub became the property of the city. Over the course of time Unger's House and Pawer's House were annexed to it.

The Primatial Palace (1778-1781) was built on property originally belonging to the archbishop of Esztergom. The façade of the palace is in strictly classical style. On the roof are allegorical statues by J. Kögler and F. Prokop as well as vases by J. A. Messerschmidt. Atop the tympanum is the coat of arms of Cardinal Jozef Batthyányi, the first occupant of the palace; an iron model of his hat, weighing 150kg, crowns the building.

This series of six tapestries, which ranks among the most precious exhibits of the City Gallery, can be found on display inside the Primatial Palace. The tapestries were woven at the royal tapestry works in the English town of Mortlake, near London, in the 1630s.

Bratislava's three-nave Gothic cathedral is built on the site of a previous, Romanesque church, dedicated to the Holy Saviour, from 1221. After 1291, when Bratislava was given the privileges of a town, the church was rebuilt to become part of the city walls (its tower served as a defensive bastion). The present church was consecrated in 1452.

The earliest surviving monumental work of central European sculpture to be fashioned from lead can be found in Bratislava's St Martin’s Cathedral. It is a sculptural group created by Georg Raphael Donner in 1734 for the main altar of the cathedral.

The bulbous yet elegant copper roof of Michael's Gate is one of the symbols of Bratislava. The roof of the original Gothic tower, built in the mid 14th century, was modified between 1753 and 1758 to give it its current, baroque style. The 51-metre tower has seven floors, and the superb view of the old town from the upper terrace of the tower is one of Bratislava's top visitor experiences.

Bratislava's opera house – known officially as the historical building of the Slovak National Theatre – is a Neo-Renaissance-style building opened in 1886 as the City Theatre, according to the design of Viennese architects F. Fellner and H. Helmer.

This sumptuous building, dating from 1911-1915, was built in eclectic style on the former site of a baroque granary from the 18th century, according to a design by Budapest architects D. Jakab and P. Komor. Lavish balls continue to be held in the Reduta building to the present day.

A 15th-century bastion, part of the city's mediaeval fortifications, once stood on the site of the present-day Old Market House – or Stará tržnica. In 1910 the present building, which was the first covered market in Bratislava, was erected according to an eclectic design by František Nechyba. In front of the market building is a fountain called The Lion with Coat of Arms.

This rococo summer palace was built in 1760 for the chairman of the Hungarian Royal Chamber and advisor to Empress Maria Theresa, Count Anton Grassalkovich. The sumptuous house was a sought-after venue for aristocratic society events. The palace is now the official residence of the President of the Slovak Republic.

Behind the Presidential Palace (Grassalkovich Palace) on Hodžovo Square is a handsome park (originally the gardens of the palace) with old trees and lawns. It was originally created as a French formal garden and still offers a quiet space away from the bustle of the city.

The gigantic Slavín war memorial is visible from much of the city. On a hill overlooking the castle, it commemorates the city's liberation by the Red Army in April 1945. It is also a cemetery for 6,845 Soviet soldiers who died during the battles for the city and the surrounding region that took place in the final weeks of World War II.

Constructed between 1967 and 1972 across the Danube river, the New Bridge – also known as the SNP Bridge, after the Slovak National Uprising – is perhaps the city's most distinctive structure. Its designers, J. Lacko and A. Tesar, decided to suspend the steel deck of the bridge from a single pylon.

On the present site of the Carlton Hotel, now known as the Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel, there were originally three inns – 'At the Green Tree', 'The National' and 'At the Hungarian King' – which were rebuilt, joined and later renamed.

The Academia Istropolitana, the first humanist university in the former Hungarian kingdom, was founded in Bratislava by King Matthias Corvinus in 1465. This was of immense significance for the development and spread of humanist philosophy in the Hungarian kingdom.

This memorial is named after the influential Chief Rabbi of Pressburg Moshe Schreiber, also known as the Chatam Sofer, who was one of the leading figures of 19th-century European Judaism. His grave, and that of 22 others, is all that remain of a 17th-century Jewish cemetery which was destroyed in 1943.

The rococo Mirbach Palace was built in 1768-1770 by Bratislava brewer Michael Spech. Its last private owner, Emil Mirbach, left the palace to the city with the wish that it be used to house the City Gallery.

This permanent exhibition at the Bratislava City Gallery's Pálffy Palace site (Panská 19) offers a unique experience. A stroll through the mirror-lined Passage, made up of some 15,000 books, represents a kind of symbolic "short cut across the world", according to the gallery. Passage (2004) is the work of Slovak artist Matej Krén.

The rococo Apponyi Palace nowadays houses the Museum of Viticulture, part of Bratislava City Museum. The palace formerly belonged to Hungarian nobleman Count George Apponyi. The museum it now contains presents Bratislava's history as a city full of vineyards, wine bars and wine cellars.

The Green House is mentioned in records from as early as the 15th century as a venue for County Parliament and Municipal Council meetings. It has seen many events and uses. Originally it was an inn selling wine; in the 17th century the trials of anti-Habsburg conspirators were held here. Later, in the 18th century, the rear of the building was rebuilt as a theatre where the town's citizens saw plays by Molière and Shakespeare for the first time.

This four-storey rococo house was built in the 1760s to fill a wedge-shaped area between two converging streets. It has an extremely narrow front, one room and a staircase wide, and is regarded as one of the most attractive houses in Bratislava.